Textile fabric



Patented July 27, 1948 TEXTILE FABRIC William R. Thomas, 3rd, Bethlehem,Pa., assignor to M. & W. Thomas 00., New York, N. Y., a

partnership No Drawing. Application August 25, 1945,

Serial No. 612,726

'7 Claims.

' ing in one direction, e. g. the warp yarns, whichfabrics are free fromthe defect of grinning.

A fabric of. balanced construction wherein .the

2 derance of the yarns constitutes the filler, present similar problems.

I have found that unbalanced fabrics having greatly improved stabilitycan be made utilizing yarns which have been prepared in the specialmanner described below and which have novel warp and filling yarns areabout equally spaced and are spaced closely together, provides thegreatest degree of stability. The stability of a fabric is diminished byincreasing the spacing of the yarns, even though the fabric remainsbalanced as in the manufacture of highly porous fabrics, or by themanufacture of unbalanced fabrics, e. g. in the manufacture of fabricswoven so as to provide special ornamental effects.

Unbalanced fabrics have been heretofore manufactured wherein the yarnsextending in one direction are closely spaced and are interwoven withrelatively fewer yarns extending in the other direction. For example,the warp yarns may be much more closely spaced than the filling yarns.In such case the warp yarns provide the decorative outer surface and areintended to conceal the filling yarns. However, if such fabrics are madewith sufficient unbalance to conceal the filling, they lack stabilityand the warp yarns can relatively easily be'displaced. On the otherhand, if the warp and filling yarns are more balanced to createstability the filling yarns become visible and the result is known asgrinning and is unsightly. In order to reduce the unsightly appearancedue to grinning, it has been proposed to dye the filling yarns so as toapproach as closely as possible the color of the warp yarns, but thishas the effect of deadening the color of the fabric as a whole.Moreover, this expedient is of little avail when skein dyed warp yarnsof contrasting color are used, for the filling yarns will not match thedifferent colors of the warp yarns. It has also been proposed to usefilling yarns having loosely associated fibers at the surface so thatthe yarns will have a fuzzy surface, but the loosely associated fibersproviding the fuzzy surface of the yarns tend to show through. Ofcourse, unbalanced fabrics wherein the preponproperties whereby new andimproved fabrics having a high degree of stability can be obtained.According tothis invention I have successfully produced fabrics havinghigh stability which, because of their unbalanced construction or lowdensity, or both, have not been regarded heretofore as being capable ofproduction so as to have the stability required for commercialapplications. Moreover, the present invention has been found to beespecially advantageous in the manufacture of unbalanced fabrics ofbrilliant color that provide sharp color contrasts using skein dyedyarns for the warp incombination with filling that is'of much lowerdensity'and that is completely concealed by the warp yarns so thatundyed or bleached filling yarns may be employed as the filling withoutthe risk of having the filling yarns becoming visible and causegrinning. A similar result can be obtained by re.- versing the densitiesof the yarns, namely, by employinglthe filling yarns in relatively highdensity and employing warpyarns in relatively low density, although inthe manufacture of unbalanced fabrics I prefer to employ special roughsurfaced yarns that are used in relatively low density as the filling.

According to this invention the special yarns which are used in themanufacture of fabrics having high stability have been made as follows:The special yarn as prepared for use in fabrics is made by twistingtogether two previously twisted strands Each of the strands isindividually twisted to a very high degree and to a degree sufficient toimpart creping tendency to the individual strands. The amount of twistnecessary to impart a creping tendency to a strand or thread is wellknown in the art. By twisting a thread or strand to a sufliciently highdegree the strand or a creped fabrics any naturally occurring gums,waxes or the like tend to assist in the setting of athread or yarn thathas had a crepe twist imparted thereto. However, any naturally occurringgums, waxes or the like may be removed by washing and the threads oryarns treated with oils or the like to assist in the twisting andweaving of the threads or yarns. In any such case, however, the threadsor yarns are given a crepe twist and after a fabric containing suchthreads or yarns has been made it is treated as by washing so that thecreping tendency of the threads or.yarns results in a creped fabric. Anythread or yarn which has been twisted until it has a creping tendency asinitially produced or after moistening is referred to herein as having anormal crepe twist."

According to the present invention the strands are subjected to furthertreatment, so that instead of producing a conventional creped fabric, afabric is produced which is not creped but which, because of theroughness of the surface of the composite yarns in the fabric, has thespecial properties and advantages herein described. To this end twostrands twisted in the same direction to the extent aforesaid, namely,until they have a normal crepe twist, are then doubled and given asecondary twist in either direction but preferably in the same directionuntil the resulting composite yarn has a roughened surface due to therelatively high secondary twist. The secondary twist has the effect ofcounteracting the creping tendency of the previously twisted indi vidualstrands so that the composite yarn in the finished fabric is 1substantially free of cr ping tendency. The special yarn made in themanner described is of a resilient character with a rough surface thatis highly resistant to slippage longi tudinally of the yarn.

In order to afford a better understanding of this invention, thisinvention will be described in connection with the followingillustrative examples.

Using rayon thread of about 100 denier, two strands, each consisting ofa singlethread of the denier aforesaid, are twisted in the samedirection individually so as to give each thread a normal crepe twist.This usually occurs when the thread has been given about 50 tums perinch and for thread of the character mentioned this degree of twist hasbeen found to be especially desirable. The strands thus prepared arethen doubled and twisted'together using a sec ondary twist, preferablyin the same direction, in the neighborhood of about 20 turns per inch.As a result of the secondary twist, the composite yarn that is producedcounteracts the creping tendency of the individual strands and becomesrough on the surface and highly resistant to slippage longitudinally ofthe yarn.

As a speciflc example of a fabric embodying this invention whichcomprises the special yarn above described, the special yarn is used asthe filling in combination with warp yarns of much greater density,namely, whichare much more closely spaced. The warp yarns consist of 150denier rayon disposed with 240 warp ends to the inch. The special yarnused as the filling is that previously described and is disposed withonly 34 filling ends to the inch. Notwithstanding, the highly unbalancednature of the fabric, it had high stability due to the special nature ofthe filling yarns and was not subject to grinning. When this type offabric was made with skein dyed warp yarns providing stripes ofcontrasting having for example 240 ends to the inch. Silk may also beemployed, although when silk is employed, the silk is generally of lowerdenier than the rayon or cotton yarns. For example, I have used as thewarp two-thread silk yarns, each thread being of 13-15 denier. and thethreads as twisted together providing a single end of approximately26-30 denier. Such ends were disposed 600 to the. inch, and wereinterwoven with filling composed of the special rough surface yarnsdisposed o as to provide about 34 ends to the inch. In a similar clothtwo-thread silk yarns were used as the warp each thread being of 20-22denier, the threads being twisted together to provide a single end ofapproximately 4044 denier, and such yarns were disposed about 400 endsto the inch. These silk threads were skein dyed to different colors andwere woven with the filling to provide fabric of great brilliance andstriking color-contrast that was free from the defect of grinningnotwithstanding the extreme unbalance of the weave.

In addition to rayon, silk may be employed as the strands used inpreparing the special yarns. For example, 20-22 denier silk threadsmaybe used which are twisted in the same direction to provide a normalcrepe twist, this requiring about '75 to 80 twists to the inch. Thestrands thus prepared were doubled and twisted together about 40 turnsin the same direction as the original twist of the individual threadsthereby providing a yarn having a rough surface but free from crepingtendency in the woven fabric. When the silk threads each having a normalcrepe twist were doubled and given a secondary twist in a'directionopposite to that of the original twist of the individual threads, theresult was about as satisfactory.

Instead of preparing the special. rough surface yarns by imparting anormal crepe twist to individual threads to form strands which aredoubled and twisted together as in the preceding example of the practiceof this invention, the strands which have the normal crepe twist may becomposed of a plurality of threads. For example, the strands may beprepared from 2, 3,0r 4 threads which are twisted together so as to givethe strands thus constituted a normal crepe twist. In the case of rayonit has been mentioned above that it requires about 50 turns to impart anormal crepe twist to individual 100 denier rayon threads. By employingtwo 75 denier rayon threads, the pair can.be given a normal crepe twistby giving the pair about 40 turns to the inch. By preparing two strandsin this way, twisted in the same direction,

' and by doubling the strands and imparting to the tendency iscounteracted. In the case of rayon yarns, the special rough surfaceyarn' generally will have a denier between about 60 and about 320,

while deniers of about 100 to 200 have been found 7 normal crepe twist.For example, two silk threads of 20-22 denier may be twisted togetherabout 70-75 turns to the inch to impart a normal'crepe twist. sing threesilk threads of the aforesaid denier about 65-70 turns to the inch willprovide a normal crepe twist; while if four of such silk threadsare'employed about 60-65 turns to the inch will impart a normal crepetwist. For silk threads of different denier, the amount of twist -willvary in imparting a normal crepe twist. For

example, for silk having a denier of 13-15 a strand composed of a singlethread requires about 85 turns to the inch to give it a normal crepingtendency while a single silk thread having a denier of about 34-36requires about 65 turns per inch. to give it a normal crepe twist. If aplurality of silk threads is used, the numberof turns required toproduce a normal crepe twist will be about 5 less than that indicatedfora single thread for each thread more than one that is used in' themaking of the strands.

It is seen from the foregoing that the number of turns per inch requiredto produce a normal crepe twist varies considerably with the denier ofthe individual threads used and with the materialsof which theindividual threads are composed, and also varies depending upon whetherthe strand that is given a normal crepe twist is composed of a singlethread or is composed of a plurality of threads. Generally, however, theindividual strands are given between about 30 and about 85 turns to theinch to produce a normal crepe twist. However, the normal crepe twist,upon being produced, is very apparent to the operator and the amount oftwisting required to obtain this condition is readily ascertainable.

With regard to the secondary twist of the doubled .strands in making upthe rough surfaced composite yarn, it may also be mentioned that theamount oftwist varies with the denier of the make-up thread and with thematerial of which the make-up thread is composed and also depends uponwhether the strands which are doubled and subjected to the secondarytwist are composed of single threads or of a plurality of threads. Inthe usual case the secondary twist will be in the neighborhood of- 15 to50 turns per inch. In imparting the secondary twist, the strands aretwisted until the creping tendency of the composite yarn is counteractedso that as incorporated in the woven fabric it is free fromcrepingtendency. Preferably the yarn is subjected to the secondary twistsomewhat in excess of the minimum re to counteract the normal crepetwist of the individual strands, the resulting rough surface yarn mayhave some tendency to curl, particularly if naturally occurring waxes,gums or the like have been removed therefrom and, while it is notessen-- tial to do so, the composite yarns may be sub- Jected to steamor quick temperature changes in water to set the composite yarn andthereby reduce any such curling tendency so as to facilitate the weavingof fabrics of this invention from the special composite yarn. In thewoven fabric of this invention the special composite yarn does not haveany creping tendency and the fabrics are similar to ordinary fabrics sofar as creping tendency is concerned but differs from ordinary fabricsin the greatly improved stability that is afforded. When it is statedherein or in the claims that the fabric of this invention containscomposite yarns that are uncreped or are free from creping tendency itis intended that such yarns as disposed in the woven fabric do not haveany creping tendency or impart any creped effect to the woven fabric.

While reference has been made to silk and rayon hereinabove and whilethis invention is of especial advantage in the manufacture of fabricsconsisting of silk or rayon or mixtures of these materials. Other fiberscan be employed such as cotton or wool for the special rough surfaceyarns or for the yarns used with the special rough surface yarns.However, the deniers mentioned herein are all on the silk basis.

.In making up special yarns, it is preferable to i have both of thestrands which are doubled and I subjected to the secondary twist of thesame character.

istlcs or of different materials, but each of which has been twisted soas to have a normal crepe twist, may be used. Moreover, strands ofdiffer-' ent materials or of different twists, or both, may be doubledand given a secondary twist in the manner above described.

This invention, as aforesaid is of great utility in the manufacture ofunbalanced fabrics wherein the number of ends per unit length of yarnsextending in one direction substantially exceeds the number'of ends perunit of length of yarns extending in the other direction, the specialyarns of greater frequency are silk, the ratio may be higher, e. g.,about 15 to 1. In fabrics of this type the less closely spaced specialrough surfaced.

yarns ordinarily are employed so that there will be from about 30 toabout 50 ends per inch, and generally such yarns are between about 60denier and about 320 denier. In such fabrics the rough surface yarnsthat are spaced less closely are generally used as the filling, and the.more closely spaced yarns are generally used as the warp. due to thefact that the manufacturing operations for producing such fabrics may bemore readily per.- formed. However. the relationship can, if desired, bereversed, so that the rough surface yarns that are less closely spacedwill occur as the warp while the more closely spaced yarns will occur asthe filling.

By employment of the special rough surface yarns according to thisinvention unbalanced fabrics can be produced which have not been re-However, this is not essential, inas- I much as two strands havingdifferent characterarded as feasible due to lack of stability. Both thenumber of warp yarns and of filling yarns can be reduced below thatwhich was regarded as possible without objectionable grinning. Thisresults in very substantial reduction in cost without sacrifice ofquality. Further savings also result from the fact that the number ofsquare inches required for cutting can be materially reduced. Forexample, unbalanced fabrics are made according to this invention alsominimize the effect of grinning due to the fact that the rough surfaceof the special yarns diffuses light reflection thereby enabling thefilling yarns to be more effectively concealed. While the special roughsurface yarns are usually used either as the warp or the filling, thespecial rough surface yarns can, if desired, be used as both the warpand the filling in the manufacture of fabrics having especially highstability.

After a fabric has been produced according to this invention, it can, ofcourse, be subjected to the usual dyeing or finishin operations, orboth, as may be desired, although this invention is of particularutility in the manufacture of unbalanced fabrics wherein the specialrough surface yarns are used in combination with skein dyed -yarns whichare of substantially greater density than the density of the specialrough surface composite yarns.

While this invention has been described in connection with certainspecific illustrations of thepractice thereof, it is to be understoodthat this has been done merely for the purpose of illustration and thatthe scope of this invention is to be governed by the language of thefollowing claims.

What I claim is:

1. An unbalanced textile fabric containing a multiplicity of yarnsextending in one direction in woven relation with a multiplicity of lessclosely spaced yarns extending in another direction, the number of endsper inch of the more closely spaced yarns being several times the numberof ends per inch of the less closely spaced yarns, a multiplicity ofsaid less closely spaced yarns being composed of two strands, each ofwhich strands is from about 20 to about 150 denier and is twisted in thesame direction as the other to provide a normal crepe twist and whichtrands are twisted together by as much as approximately 15 toapproximately 40 turns to the inch inversely in relation to the deniermagnitude of said strands to provide a composite yarn having distinctsurface roughness, said fabric being stable against normal handling,free of grinning and without appreciable crepe effect.

2. An unbalanced fabric according to claim 1 wherein each of saidstrands is composed of from 1 to 4 threads, and wherein each of thestrands is twisted by as much as approximately 80 to approximately turnsto the inch inversely in relation to the denier magnitude of the strandsto provide said normal crepe twist.

3. An unbalanced textile fabric according to claim 1 wherein saidstrands are twisted together in the same direction as the direction ofthe normal crepe twist in the individual strands to provide saidcomposite yarn having distinct surface roughness.

4. An unbalanced textile fabric according to claim 1 wherein the numberof ends per unit of length of the yarns extending in one of saiddirections is at least 5 times the number of ends per unit of length ofsaid less closely spaced yarns extending in the other direction.

5. An unbalanced textile fabric according to claim 1 wherein the numberof ends per unit of said less closely spaced yarns is between about 30and about 50 ends to the inch, and wherein the number of ends per inchof the yarns extending in the other direction is at least about 5 timesgreater than the number of ends per inch of said less closely spacedyarns, a multiplicity of the more closely spaced yarns being skein dyedand providing stripes of contrasting color.

6. An unbalanced textile fabric according to claim 1 wherein said lessclosely spaced yarns having a distinct surface roughness are composedprincipally of rayon,

'7. An unbalanced textile fabric according to claim 1 wherein said lessclosely spaced yarns having a distinct surface roughness are composedprincipally of silk.

WILLIAM R. THOMAS, 3121).

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,823,053 Lawton Sept. 15, 19312,134,022 Bell ..l Oct. 25, 1938 2,199,428 Finlayson et a1 May 7, 19402,203,721 Dingley et a1 June 11, 1940 2,241,442 Bell et al. May 13, 19412,353,666 Hathorne et a1 July 18, 1944 OTHER REFERENCES PublicationFormula'and Construction of Silk Yarns; published by Harron Hosiery 00.,Philadelphia, Pa.

Analysis of WovenFabrics. by A. F. Barker, M. Sc. and E. Midgley, secondrevised and enlarged edition published by Scott, Greenwood and Son,1922.

Staple Cotton Fabrics," by Hoye; published 1942 by McGraw-Hill BookCo.,. Inc., New York and London. Pages 43 and 44. (Copy in Div. 21.)

